During World War II, several branches of the U.S. military used a variation on the
following slogan: "The difficult we do immediately. The impossible takes a little longer."
Some may say that what I am asking is impossible, but given the collective wisdom,
passion, and experience of this group, I refuse to believe that. So here’s the story.
The Challenge
AERO's mission is to help create an education revolution to make learner-centered education available to everyone.
A little background: I have a client who is interested in advancing the cause of learner-centered education. I reported back to him after the AERO conference in May, and he has asked me to take on a larger task—traveling around the country visiting various types of learner-centered facilities. To that end, I’ve been reviewing the information on AERO member schools, as well as other progressive/democratic/alt-ed efforts. One thing has become painfully clear.
AERO’s mission will not be fully realized until learner-centered education is made available to low-income/poverty-level families at scale. (Scale refers to many small centers, not larger enrollments.)
I realize that many existing centers go to great lengths to include these students though scholarships and sliding tuition, but that doesn’t address the core issue. I have come across only one or two learning centers with significant numbers of students whose only present option is tuition-free public schools. This is not a “minority” problem. Recent research found that low-income students now represent more than half of all U.S. public school students!
Yes, I understand that this is an economic issue. But as Chris Mercogliano states in How to Grow a School, one way to make these centers economically viable is to couple them with a business or other income producer of some type. That’s just one idea.
So here’s the challenge. How do we create grass roots, community-based learning centers that incorporate the best practices of learner-centered, democratic schools…without charging tuition?
The floor is open for ideas! Let’s keep this in the brainstorming stage at this point, so there are no “crazy” ideas. Throw out whatever pops into your mind, even if you can’t see all the details of how it might work. Many of you have extensive experience, so you may think you know what does and doesn’t work…but what if it did?
One caveat—buying a building in urban New York (for example) is unlikely! The immediate goal would be to create a model CLC (community learning center) to work the bugs out and act as proof of concept. The ultimate goal is to lay the groundwork for a network of CLCs that community members can adapt to their own needs.
If you’re interested and up for the challenge, please send me your ideas at judy.yero@teachinginmind.com. I’ll compile ideas and post them to the AERO Forum. If enough people are interested, we’ll shoot for a Forum on just this topic to keep the discussion going. Together, we can make this happen!
Thanks so much!
